Other guests included Mark Ronson who urged the students to persevere, revealing it has taken him 10 years to break into the big time

Sir Paul McCartney praised the spirit and family atmosphere of the performing arts college he co-founded.

Speaking at LIPA’s graduation ceremony, the ex-Beatle said: “What I find really nice is that you come from your own family to here, and this becomes another kind of family – your LIPA family.

“Then as you progress into the professional world, if you’re very lucky and you cherish that idea, you get your professional family.”

Around 260 students from the UK and more than 15 countries including India, Mexico, Venezuela and South Africa, graduated at the ceremony at the Philharmonic Hall yesterday.

Meanwhile six leading figures from the entertainment industry – including DJ and producer Mark Ronson and veteran US record label boss Seymour Stein – were made Companions of LIPA, an accolade given for outstanding achievement and practical contribution to students’ learning.

There won’t be a more historic concert in Seattle this year than Paul McCartney’s show on Friday night. That was a given even before McCartney came on stage, as it was Safeco’s first-ever concert. But McCartney made it a night for the ages by playing an inspired set of mostly Beatles songs, and ending with a Nirvana reunion, of sorts.

It was a Seattle music lover’s dream-come-true, and the 47,000 in the sold-out stadium will be talking about it for years. As the late Dave Niehaus said, it was grand salami time.

Throughout the early half of the three-hour show, McCartney talked often, and his personal histories gave context to classic songs. He told of how honored he was to hear Jimi Hendrix play “Sgt. Pepper’s” two days after the album’s release. He also said the leaders of Russia told him they learned English from Beatles albums. “Hello, goodbye,” he joked.

He had a stellar four-piece band, but it was McCartney’s performance on bass, guitar, and piano that was most impressive, as he jogged between instruments. A cutting “Band on the Run” was particular muscular as it segued into “Back in the U.S.S.R.”

Giant display screens flanked the stage and showed videos of his children, the Beatles, Wings, and Linda McCartney. He dedicated “My Valentine” to his current wife Nancy, but the video images of Linda, and his performance of “Maybe I’m Amazed,” was most heartwarming.

The show became legendary one song into the first encore when the remaining members of Nirvana — Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl, and Pat Smear — came onstage for “Cut Me Some Slack.” They wrote this tune together, and played it once before at this year’s Grammy Awards, in a lineup the press dubbed “Sir-Vana.”

Usually these superstar jams devolve, but “Sir-Vana” was the rare exception of musicians who were pushed to new heights by their union. McCartney then varied from his usual set for the first time this tour for a romping “Long Tall Sally” that absolutely killed.

Paul urged the Nirvana guys to stay, so they joined his band for most of the encores. Their version of “Helter Skelter,” with a sharp punk edge, would have made John Lennon, or Kurt Cobain, proud. The concert finally closed, three hours after it began, with “The End.”

Paul McCartney is 71, rich and famous beyond measure, and one might suppose he has little to prove. But he gave the Safeco crowd a gift that isn’t often witnessed at superstar shows: he made the most famous songs in rock feel youthful, fresh, alive, important, vital.

Sir Paul McCartney welcomed the surviving members of Nirvana, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, to join him on stage in Seattle of Friday night (July 19, 2013).

McCartney was playing the very first rock show at the new Safeco Field in Seattle and revived his grunge backing-band for the occasion.

McCartney, Grohl, Novoselic and Smear first performed together live for the Sandy Relief Concert in December, 2012. They first got together to record the track ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ for Grohl’s Sound City movie project.

The Nirvana members joined Sir Paul for the encore of his Seattle show to perform Cut Me Some Slack, Get Back, Long Tall Sally, Helter Skelter and The End.

Here is the setlist from the show:

Eight Days A Week (from Beatles For Sale, 1964)Junior’s Farm (single, 1974)All My Loving (from With The Beatles, 1963)Listen To What The Man Said (from Venus & Mars, 1975)Let Me Roll It (from Band On The Run, 1973)Paperback Writer (single, 1966)My Valentine (from Kisses On The Bottom, 2012)Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (from Band On The Run, 1973)The Long And Winding Road (from Let It Be, 1970)Maybe I’m Amazed (from McCartney, 1970)I’ve Just Seen A Face (from Help, 1965)We Can Work It Out (single, 1965)Another Day (single, 1971)And I Love Her (From A Hard Days Night, 1964)Blackbird (from The Beatles, 1968)Here Today (from Tug Of War, 1982)Your Mother Should Know (from Magical Mystery Tour, 1967)Lady Madonna (single, 1968)All Together Now (from Yellow Submarine, 1969)Mrs Vandebilt (from Band On The Run, 1973)Eleanor Rigby (from Revolver, 1966)Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite (from Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)Something (from Abbey Road, 1969)Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (from The Beatles, 1968)Band On The Run (from Band On The Run, 1973)Back In The USSR (from The Beatles, 1968)Let It Be (from Let It Be, 1970)Live and Let Die (single, 1973)Hey Jude (single, 1968)

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